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<\/p>\n\u201cWe are very proud of the boys,\u201d Yadira Ramirez said in Vancouver. \u201cWe cannot take away from all the hard work and the dedication they did have. It wasn\u2019t this time. It might be next time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
Colin Paterson, also in Vancouver, said he has been watching the team since he was young. This means the soccer fan hasn\u2019t had much to cheer about over the years. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough,\u201d said Paterson, 31, of the result. \u201cI\u2019m disappointed, because I feel that they played so well. Maybe they could have got a result. But we were in the round of 16. I would have never expected that.\u201d <\/p>\n
When Canada was announced as a co-host of this year\u2019s tournament in 2017, it was ranked 120th in the world, which was an improvement from 122nd in the world in 2014.<\/p>\n
But things have turned around in less than a decade as Canada qualified for the World Cup in 2022 after its first and only appearance in 1986, when it did not score a single goal or earn a single point. <\/p>\n
So, when the 2026 tournament kicked off, Canada was poised to make history, and it did. <\/p>\n
Toronto hosted Canada\u2019s inaugural World Cup game and Cyle Larin scored Canada\u2019s first ever World Cup goal on home soil in a 1-1 tie with Bosnia-Herzegovina. <\/p>\n
Vancouver then became the site of Canada\u2019s first ever tournament victory with a 6-0 drubbing of Qatar. <\/p>\n
On Saturday, the team was poised to take another step after winning its first knockout match against South Africa. But Morocco was a different kind of opponent. Morocco entered the tournament sitting seventh in FIFA\u2019s rankings while Canada was No. 30.<\/p>\n
Montreal is home to one of Canada\u2019s largest Moroccan communities, including in Montr\u00e9al-Nord and around Little Maghreb, a neighbourhood in the Villeray\u2013Saint-Michel\u2013Parc-Extension borough.<\/p>\n
Inside an indoor soccer facility in Montreal-Nord, a few hundred Moroccan supporters gathered for a community party to watch Morocco\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n
Among them was Odette Leclerc, 87, who said she wasn\u2019t rooting for either side despite having many Moroccan friends. <\/p>\n
\u201cI just wanted the best team to win,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m happy for my Moroccan friends.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ali Abdel, 23, said he came to celebrate with the Moroccan community of Montreal as much as to watch the match. <\/p>\n
\u201cBeing here with everyone is what matters most,\u201d he said. \u201cThe win is just the cherry on top.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Mark Carney said after Saturday\u2019s loss he\u2019s feeling \u201cnothing but pride\u201d and called it an \u201cincredible run and a sign of what\u2019s to come\u201d while thanking all the fans who showed up in support of the co-host nation.<\/p>\n
Canada Soccer, the national federation, said on social media that Saturday\u2019s result hurts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came here believing we could keep writing history, and when you believe that deeply, the final whistle is not easy to accept.\u201d <\/p>\n
But the post also pointed to what has been won since the start of tournament almost a month ago. <\/p>\n
\u201cHistory wasn\u2019t just made on the pitch,\u201d it said. \u201cIt was made in homes, schools, parks, pubs and communities across this country. It was made every time someone chose to believe,\u201d it said. \u201cCanada\u2019s World Cup comes to a close. Canada\u2019s football journey is only just beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Josh Killins, who watched the game in Vancouver, said it was sad to see the Canadians go. <\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we fully had them in the first half,\u201d Killins said of the Moroccan team. \u201cI thought we had a good chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colby Foster, who also watched in Vancouver, said he hopes people who do not follow the sport closely come to understand how big an achievement Canada\u2019s run at the World Cup was. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it was only 15 years ago that we were losing 8-1 to Honduras,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The fan, who travelled to Vancouver from Langley, B.C., said he hopes Canada\u2019s success will inspire others to play and support soccer teams in Canada, including the Vancouver Whitecaps.<\/p>\n
Morocco advances to the quarterfinals, where they will play either Paraguay or France in a quarterfinal matchup in Boston on July 9.<\/p>\n
The World Cup will continue until July 19.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 4, 2026.<\/p>\n
\u2013With files from Nono Shen in Vanvouver and Charlotte Glorieux in Montreal<\/p>\n
Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe are very proud of the boys,\u201d Yadira Ramirez said in Vancouver. \u201cWe cannot take away from all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":781445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-781444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}